Friendship

Friendship is a human relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, and affection. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit loyalty towards each other, often to the point of putting the other's interest before one's own. Their tastes will be similar and may converge, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also engage in mutually helping behavior, such as exchange of advice and the sharing of hardship.

Physical manifestations

Friends usually will engage in various forms of physical contact, at times spontaneous and other times of a ritualized nature.

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The form and context of the physical contact has varied historically, culturally, and developmentally. In the west, these manifestations, with the exception of the more formal ones, can be seen with greater frequency among young children and among female friends. In the east they are more equally distributed.

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Types

• Handshakes This is a more formalized type of contact, frequent among older individuals and only denoting feelings of friendship if emphasized.
• Holding hands
• Hugging
• Two-armed hug
• Hip-hop hug This embrace, primarily used by males, has become popular in the western hemisphere because it expresses affection while maintaining a remote posture, so as to preclude any homosexual connotationshttp://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1458516.
• Walking arm-in-arm
• Placing an arm over the other's shoulder or waist
• Kissing
• Imitation of fight